“Brand Mark 101” is part of Ramelle Kamack’s Black Sheep Collection of short stories. The story takes up childhood development, positive reinforcement, and self-esteem in a culture of hyper materialism and consumption. Written as an autobiographical narrative, Kamack reflects on his life growing up in a culture of consumerism and marketing that targeted kids and defined what was cool and what wasn’t. Kamack begins his story by relating how excited his nephews were when he brought them McDonalds. This made Kamack think about “how at such an early age their developing minds were already accustomed to associating a picture, a symbol, a golden “M:”, with hamburgers, French fries, and maybe even a toy.” Indeed, Kamack argues that through marketing and the culture of consumerism, not only do his nephews develop certain expectations and desires, but his life and his friends’ lives were shaped by similar forces which influenced how they understood social status, relationships, and poverty.
Kamack reflects on his life and how brand marketing influenced his decisions and relationships. Of note is his relationship with his divorced parents. Kamack relates how his father would spend lavishly on brand name cereals and other foods, while his mother would buy him off-brand cereals. He recounts how, after seeing a commercial for Lucky Charms cereal and Pop-Tarts he begged his mother to buy him Lucky Charms and Pop-Tarts. She promised him she would, which surprised Kamack because his mother was typically budget conscious. However, when his mother returned from the market, the brand of cereal was a cheaper knock-off cereal, Marshmallow Crunch. And instead of Pop-Tarts she had bought Toaster Pop-ups, a cheaper generic version of Pop-Tarts. Because they didn’t reflect what he saw on TV, he didn’t want those. They wouldn’t be as good, he thought. However, Kamack was not discouraged as he knew that when he would visit his father that weekend, he would get his cereal and Pop-tarts because his father had no issue with buying brand-named goods. However, Kamack points out that after his father would spend lavishly on groceries, he was broke until he got his next paycheck unlike his mother who seemed to always have some extra money around.
Finally, Kamack tells the story of his friend from school who had bought what he thought were a new pair of “Filas” sneakers. As a young child, what you wore, especially your sneakers, was a status symbol. The kids that wore the newest, most fashionable and expensive sneakers held a certain prestige. Kamack’s friend was confident that his new Filas sneakers would elevate him to the top of the social ladder at school. However, Kamack noticed that his friends’ new shoes were not Filas, but Fifas. He didn’t have the heart to tell him. At the end of the school day, Kamack’s friends was nowhere to be found. When Kamack went to his friend’s house to inquire about him, he heard him crying and discovered that he was teased so badly about his knock-off sneakers that he had left school and went home early.
Kamack’s critique of capitalism is in conversation with political scientist Cedric Robinson’s definition of the “Black radical tradition.” Robinson argued that the creation of racial identity was structured through a capitalist social order (racial capitalism). As such, the West, or Europe, suppressed “previous knowledge of the African (and its own) past.” “It was a process,” Robinson argued, “that was to transport the image of Africa across separate planes of dehumanization latticed by the emerging modalities of Western culture.” Kamack’s argument that hyper-materialism in the U.S. has led to people placing their self-worth on what they wear is in direct conversation with the ways in which race and capitalism worked and continues to dehumanize people of color or non-Europeans. The moral of Kamack’s story is “people don’t need a Brand Name to feel” good about themselves. His experiences have taught him that “Some people are different. They are relevant. They do have self-esteem, and are important, not dependent upon the label of a product but by determination of how they feel about themselves.” In this way, Kamack challenges ideas of self-worth and belonging in a hyper-materialist and capitalist society. He also interrogates how poverty affects self-esteem when someone is constantly inundated with images of what is good and what is needed in society. Finally, Kamack’s story confronts the ways in which relationships are constructed through materialism or lack of material wealth. In this way, Kamack critiques consumerism as something that distorts how we see and value ourselves and others.
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